The Perfect Girlfriend(75)

‘What did you say to her?’

‘I told her the truth, which is that I married the man I love in Vegas, but moments later he got cold feet and reneged on the deal. Not only that, he hasn’t told his family. She absolutely thinks that you must.’

‘Lily. I’m sorry. I truly understand now. I hurt you. You thought that we were going to get married and have children. Un-cuff me. We can talk. Properly. I promise.’

Rage ravages my entire body and mind. If there is one thing that I have always hated about Nate, it’s the smug way he talks – as though he is the perfectly rational and reasonable one and I am some deranged, delusional person. It really, really pisses me off. I struggle to remain calm.

‘You don’t have a good-enough track record of keeping promises for me to believe you.’

‘I need the toilet and I’m sure we could both do with a coffee. I promise you, Lily, nothing bad will happen if you let me go.’

The thing is, I can’t. He’s going to send me on my merry way – and that’s the best-case scenario. I’m not going to think about the worst-case one.

‘I can’t let you go right this minute, but please don’t worry. I have a plan.’

I can tell by the way he tenses the muscles in his face that he is extremely angry, but he does a good job of containing it whilst he no doubt ponders ways to manipulate me. He is going to treat me in the old-fashioned way of treating plane hijackers – appease me and pretend to support my views.

I take out a screwdriver and my iPad. I press ‘play’ on the downloaded video and prop the screen up against the wall whilst I get to work on the bathroom door handle. It takes mere minutes to unscrew the gold handle and remove it.

‘What are you doing now?’ Nate’s voice is measured.

‘I’m doing something so that you can be un-cuffed.’

‘What? You’re going to lock me in instead? Don’t rely on amateur YouTubers to provide you with information. I could end up trapped in here!’

I interrupt. ‘You won’t be. But I do need your cooperation. You’re going to have to earn your freedom.’

‘Lily! This is ridiculous! Outrageous!’

I turn round and smile. ‘It is. Preposterous! Enraging! Do you want freedom to move around or not?’

He doesn’t reply.

‘Thought so. Don’t interrupt me whilst I’m working. I have to start the video over again now.’

He kicks the bath panel. I glare at him.

Switching the lock round to the other side of the door handle isn’t as easy as it looks, but after two attempts I manage it. The final part is to jam the mechanism. I shove in a fish pellet. Job done. I try out my handiwork. It works! I can now lock him in.

Nate continues to yank at the towel rail – as though, if he tries hard enough, the metal will break.

The bathroom window looks out to the side, not on to the Green. I secure the window locks and pocket the keys. In the – hopefully – unlikely event he does manage to grab the attention of someone through the frosted glass, it won’t be my fault that something has happened to the lock. And as for the handcuffs – they come from a sex shop. I’ll let people use their imagination.

I go into the kitchen, then back into the bathroom to leave him some food. Not his favourite things; he doesn’t deserve any loving touches right now. Whilst I generously unpack a packet of cheese crackers and several apples, Nate catches me by surprise as he lunges forward with his free arm and manages to grab my leg, yanking me down. I grip the side of the bath, winded, as he grabs my left calf and tries to pull me closer. As I pull my leg up, he grips tighter. I kick with my right leg as hard as I can. He doesn’t release his grip, so I kick again. This time he lets go, taking deep, heavy breaths as he slumps back against the rails.

Regathering my thoughts, I take deep breaths too. Keeping as far away from him as I can, I lean over and hand him a cheap tablet I recently purchased. It contains a deeply personal message for him. I have spent hours recording and editing a little film aptly entitled: The Beginning.

‘There’s something I’d like you to watch, please.’

‘What is it?’ he says, looking down at the screen.

‘Something very important. It’s me. Speaking directly to you. From the heart.’

He remains expressionless. It’s this type of behaviour that has driven me to these measures – his total non-reaction when I try to express myself. So, I do feel that this idea of mine has the potential to work. I’m not the sort of person who believes that by merely buying a diet book I will always eat less and exercise more, but I do believe in being open-minded and looking for fresh solutions.

Let’s face it, nothing else has worked so far. And the overriding problem I have is that Nate thinks he doesn’t love me. Once he realizes that he does, everything should naturally realign. For example, I will no longer need Miles in my life. He can be fully returned, as damaged goods, back to Bella.

‘Darling. I’ve been forced into this. You do understand, don’t you?’

He stares at me.

‘Don’t you?’

He nods.

‘Press “play”, then.’

He hesitates. ‘Are you going to watch me? How long is it?’

I perch on the edge of the bath and grip the edge. ‘Long enough. I will wait until I can be sure that you are listening carefully. This is the only way. I’ve tried so many times but you just won’t listen.’